Tragic
by PurpleMoonlitWolf
Summary: After Waking up in an abandoned lab Shadow finds himself faced with danger, mystery and a few strange alliances. Will he figure out why he was taken? Or will his days be numbered. Suck at summeries. Please Read and Review!
1. 1 Prologue

**Chapter 1: Prologue**

Not good. Definitely not good. G.U.N. troops had blocked the exits and were surrounding the area and snipers were already positioned on the roof buildings.

Well if this is the only thing the planned, then this was going to be easier then he thought. Smiling to himself he checked his rifle and prepared for the coming fight.

In the background was a very bored sounding voice telling him to surrender. He ignored this, went outside and shot said bored guy.

As expected chaos broke out, which he expected as much. What he didn't expect was the black and grey hedgehog that now stood on front of him. He was so shocked for a moment that a soldier actually managed to graze his arm with a bullet.

First mistake: that was the quickest way into the hospital. After that the man codenamed 'Shadow' went into a fury, at the end of it realising that the only one still standing was the hedgehog he'd seen before.

That was the last thing he thought before darkness overtook him.

AN: Stupid or what! Okaay so I was bored in school so I wrote it! One-shot or more? Or less? And if you hate it: TELL ME! I don't want to spend hours working on crap! 'K, bye for now!


	2. 2 Waking Up

**Chapter 2: Waking Up**

He opened his eyes to find himself in a cryostatis cell and the middle of an abandoned laboratory. He suddenly realized that he couldn't remember anything, and a burning rage built inside him. He broke open the cell, and the strange liquid seeped out.

As the liquid became less and less, his senses came back stronger and stronger. And without the liquid blocking out his sense of smell he was hit by the odour of dried blood, antiseptic and decay. Stumbling out of the container (he was still unstable because of all that time in the cell) he took a closer look at his surroundings. The walls were covered in slimy green-brown goo that was seeping out of most crevices and from the ceiling, and half of the tiles on the floor were broken or pulled off completely.

Then there was the 'table'. Covered in dry blood with scratches, probably from the 'subjects', it was rusty and there were water stains, probably from tears. The restraints were drenched in blood witch turned it a horrible colour. It also had spikes on the inside to discourage anyone who tried to struggle. It was not tarnished except for a single bite mark on the right restraint.

But the worst had to be the operating instruments and the vials of liquid which he knew contained either acid (which they poured onto infected areas on the subjects so it could burn away the flesh but keep them alive to experiment on) or DNA ( which they probably tried to graft onto their subjects).

How did he know it all? It was written on a piece of paper warning the scientists how to handle the liquids. Disgusted he threw the vials against the wall, satisfied with the loud crash that echoed through the lab.

Then he heard it: the sound of someone crying, a lonely echo. He looked around trying to figure out where it came from and spotted a passage blocked by debris. He moved the debris with ease, but before he moved into the hallway he stepped on a pair of dog tags. Looking at the dog tags he read 'Shadow' and immediately put them on. It was like an unseen force was telling him it was his. Refocusing on the hallway where the crying had come from (AN: it stopped while he put on the dog tags). He walked past hundreds of cells: some had evidence that they held prisoners, some with skeletons and others who might have just been sleeping if it wasn't from the smell. As Shadow went further and further in he heard sniffling. He immediately started headed to where it came from and looked into the cell. He was shocked at what he saw.

AN: Cliffy! Okay this was more description than anything else. And if you hadn't noticed, Shadow wasn't his real name before, but it is now! Okay vote who should be in the cell: Tikal, Silver, Blaze or an OC.


	3. 3 Left Behind

**Chapter 3: Left Behind**

AN: I've got a Death Note! I've got a Death Note! I've got a Death Note! And guess what I'm writing. : P.

He only had a few moments to be shocked before the tall, lanky silver hedgehog attacked him. Shadow however had not forgotten how to fight, and quickly sidestepped. The young hedgehog was not giving up though and kept attacking blindly, Shadow kept sidestepping. But Shadow was just stalling. If he wanted to take out this kid it wouldn't be hard, he looked about ready to collapse and probably hadn't eaten in weeks. There was also something on his wrists that was causing him pain and making him attack faster and more wildly. And there was a look on his face, a look of desperation and determination. There was no doubt: this kid wouldn't give up.

So Shadow knocked his feet from under him, quickly grabbed his hands and sat on him, so that he was on the floor with his hands detained and couldn't get up. The kid kept struggling and glaring at hi. Shadow just rolled his eyes and with his bare hands took the restraints off of him. "Now, mind telling me why you attacked me?" Shadow asked. The boy's eyes widened as if he hadn't noticed who he was attacking. "You're the one in the tank?" it was posed as a question and Shadow was tired of being nice "No shit Sherlock". Shadow opened his mouth to say something else when a small moan pierced the air and out of the corner of his eye he saw movement. The boy went stiff beneath him and suddenly Shadow was being held in the air, with a strange blue light surrounding him. The boy ran to the corner and then suddenly the thing in the corner was floating too.

In the light Shadow could see it was the body of a girl, a girl who looked on the brink of death. Shadow also noticed that the boy's hands were glowing the exact colour of the aura that surrounded both him and the girl! "She needs food." Shadow commented, "And she's probably dehydrated.". The boy's head shot up and looked between the girl and Shadow, then after a few minutes, nodded. Shadow was brought back to the ground and the boy looked at him with pleading eyes, "Where do I find food?". "Well, it's sure not gonna be in here. Where's the exit to this place anyway?" "I don't know. I was taken here when I was four, so my memory isn't the best. And even if I did remember, they blindfolded me when they brought me in."

They took him when he was four? Was all Shadow could think, until he realized that the boy was still waiting for him to say something. Shadow sighed, "Guess we'll have to find the exit ourselves then… Hey runt, what's your name anyway?"

"**The boy's" POV**

Runt? What does that mean?

**Third Person POV**

Shadow waited and waited, "Kid, your name?". "Oh! Oh yeah, it's 34275." The kid doesn't have a name? What kind if monsters were these people? "Not anymore kid." 34275 looked surprised and Shadow continued "Your name is now 'Silver'." (AN: Yay! Uncie Shadie named him!). Silver could only nod his head to this statement.

"Okay now that's settled, we should head east." At this the boy looked confused, "Why East?". "The air smells fresher that way." Shadow stated as if it was obvious. Slinging the girl (who he could now tell was a purple cat with a red gem on her forehead) over his shoulder, Shadow led the way through the lab, looking for any more evidence of who he was. The only thing he saw was rubble, skeletons, medical supplies and the occasional rat though.

Shadow was so focused on looking for a way out that he was surprised when Silver spoke up, "Will she be okay?". Shadow looked at the boy and saw sadness and despair. Shadow shrugged, "You two were friends?". This caught the runt off guard, "Not really, but… I just wanted to save someone, everyone was dying and I could hear their screams! I wanted to save someone!". By the end of his speech Silver was crying.

Shadow put a hand on his shoulder and said, "You got honour, kid. I can tell you that.". Shadow then nodded to the end of the tunnel, "The exit's right there. I'm sure she'll be fine.". Silver nodded and continued shuffling behind Shadow, until Shadow stepped in front of the exit. Shadow kept reading the words and yet they still didn't make sense; why would a word he has never heard before make him feel like this? What was so special about 'The ARK'?.

AN: Chapter 3 is finally down, and if you wanna guess what I was writing in my Death Note: send a review. If you wanna add a name to my Death Note: review. If you hate pickles: review!

P.S. Okay who feels sorry for Silver? Brave little guy . Review!


	4. Almost Dead

**Chapter 4: Almost Dead**

AN: Okay, I seriously keep forgetting the disclaimer. So here, once and for all, the disclaimer:

Disclaimer: I own absolutely nothing. I don't own these characters or any Death Note. And I do not own the house I live in. Okay, got it? Get it? Good!

**Shadow's POV**

That boy did not leave her side. It's been days since we got out of that hellhole. Guess he's just a goody-two-shoes and hates to see anyone hurt. It has been three days since we had escaped the underground lab known as the 'ARK'. Two days after that I, unknown to anyone else, robbed the ARK's bank account and rent an apartment with the money. The first night out of the lab was spent in the woods. Silver spent most of the first night trying to get me to let him and 997153 (the purple cat girl) tag along. My only response to that was that 997153 wasn't a name, it was a number, and that I work alone. But not even I could stand up to Silver's puppy dog look. Add that to the tragic story the boy started telling, equals two new charges.

"I didn't talk to her." I turned to see Silver standing with a sad faraway look that I already knew he got when he thought about the ARK. Seeing the quizzical look I gave him, he continued "Whenever we were put together I tried to ignore her.". I opened my mouth to say something but Silver quickly continued, "She acted differently from the rest, and kept making trouble. I guess I was sort of afraid to talk to her incase they hurt me because of it." There was a long pause before Silver spoke again, "But what they were doing to her was wrong." His fists were shaking now, "They broke her… She was so alive when she first came, and then…". I put my hand on the young boy's shoulder; this alone seemed to comfort the boy. "Am I interrupting something?" came a female voice from the doorway.

AN: You guys are so lucky! I was thinking of ending it here, but then I had nothing else to do, so…

**Third Person POV**

Shadow and Silver both whipped around to see 99715 standing in the doorway, arms crossed and tail flicking with an amused half smile, half grimace.

"997153!" Silver shouted. Now the amused smile was off her face and there was unmistakable rage in her eyes that could only be described as a raging fire.

"My name is Blaze. I have always been Blaze. And I always will be. Don't you dare call me by that number!". This scared the shit out of Silver, who looked paler than usual, and made Shadow secretly admire her (AN: Nothing romantic). "Yeah, Yeah. Just don't pass out again." This made her twitch in annoyance. Which in turn made Shadow smirk; she was good, but nowhere near his standards. "I'll try my hardest." She said sarcastically.

"D- Do you want some food?" State the obvious much Silver, Shadow thought, She's only been asleep for 3 days. Blaze glared at him, but the effect was ruined when her stomach decided that it was time for it to speak up. So instead she was resigned to sighing and nodding her head.

Silver disappeared into the kitchen, "Make me my pizza!" Shadow called to the disappearing figure. "So does this place have a shower or what" Shadow rolled his eyes, 'What a dumb question' "No shit Sherlock. Down the hall.". Her only response was to leave. "Yo, Silvia!" Shadow called. Silver walked into the room, "Please stop calling me that.". Shadow chuckled darkly "Then stop wearing that apron." He replied. "But you told me too!". Okay Shadow had to admit that look was priceless. "Huh? Where'd Blaze go?". "Shower.". "Oh" Silver turned a light pink, "Never mind then.".

"The food's burning." This sent Silver running into the kitchen. "Finally, some peace and quiet." Shadow mumbled and then, as if on cue, Blaze walked in. Except now, instead of her tatty, dirty white lab experiment gown, she wore a purple tank top with white long pants and black boots. Silver walked in and dropped the food all over the floor and Blaze's new shoes. This of course made Blaze start yelling and Silver apologizing and shouting back, "But I'm the one who got you those clothes!" "Doesn't give you an excuse!".

Finally Shadow stepped in, "Knock it off! Runt, wash those clothes. And you *points to Blaze*, go wash off. Begrudgingly, they stopped arguing.

AN: Please Review! I'm sorry I took so long to update. I was Busy with exams. :(

P.S Shit is not a swear word, it's a harsh way of saying Crap.


	5. A Bad Day

**Chapter 5: **

AN: 2 Chappies in One Day. Yayz. :p

Disclaimer: Last time I checked, I didn't own these characters. I'm pretty sure that hasn't changed.

**Shadow's POV**

Okay, this was officially going to be a bad day. How could I tell? **I **had to go shopping for groceries. Yeah, beware people, the world might end.

Anyway I grabbed the credit card I still had from the lab and left. But first thing's first, I walked past the grocery store and into a shady looking bike store. No, not bicycle… Motorbike, as in: fast, evade cops and avoid traffic.

_-10 minutes later-_

Way better than walking. To everyone who wants a car: Don't. Get a motorbike; a million times better! Okay if anyone even looks at me funny, I swear I'm gonna knock them out so hard they might need an ambulance. Next time the runt can do this, it's the least he could do while staying at my place. Besides, this is degrading! Real men don't 'shop'! (AN: LOL! Silver you're not a 'real man'). Done! Drink, food. I don't care whether they like it or not. Alright, pay and get out.

_-2 minutes later-_

Finally out of that hellhole! Someone must have had a bunch of crap going through their head when they built the thing.

**Third Person POV**

Shadow started his bike and started driving home, but halfway down the road some idiot thought it would be fun to shoot at him.

"Oh, for #*&'s sake!" Shadow drove into an alleyway hoping to lose them, but no such luck. "Mental note to self…" He muttered under his breath, "When shopping: bring gun.". Seeing a busy street ahead, Shadow revved up: He could lose them in the traffic. 'Shit!', Shadow could feel the blood rushing out of the wound on his shoulder. By now, Shadow was already in the busy traffic. But in the corner of his eye he saw the van with the words on the side: 'Ark Angels: Transport and Delivery'. Refocusing on the road Shadow effortlessly dodged in between cars, gaining more and more ground from the van. After 5 minutes he had lost the van and gotten back to the apartment.

**Shadow's POV  
**I ran into the room, "Pack up, we're leaving!". I didn't stop to put the groceries away, there was no need anymore. Instead I threw them into a bag, grabbed my rifle and the extra rounds and put everything else I had into the bag as well. "Hey runt! How old are you?", I yelled into the other room. "Seventeen. Why?", Shit that's no good, he couldn't drive a car! "How about you, Blaze?", I walked into the room as I said that and heard a muffled "Sure, call **her** by her name…". "I'm eighteen." Blaze replied, "Shadow, why are we packing?". I took a deep breath and explained about the van. "Here." I said and threw her a wad of cash, "Go buy a car or something for you and the runt.". After leaving a somewhat stunned Blaze with an equally stunned Silver, I went into the hallway, walked up two flights of stairs and slid the credit card under a random door. "Probably how they found us in the first place" I said to no one in particular. "Probably." Came a voice from across the hall.

**Third Person POV**

Shadow glared at the eavesdropper for awhile: A bat with short, spiky shoulder-length hair, long deep purple elbow length gloves, a long black skirt with a slit up the side, black boots with heels that went up to her knee, and a flowing purple top with a 'winking heart' print. Shadow was angry, not particularly at the girl, but at himself for not noticing her. He opened his mouth, but the bat spoke first, "You know they'll probably be here soon, if you just stand around and wait. Of course I could tell you need help… I accept!". Okay this was not helping Shadow's anger issues "What the hell makes **you** think **I **need your help! I don't need **anyone's **help!". "Yes, you do. Like it or not, you need an intelligence agent and I'm the best there is. Name's Rouge.". "What's in it for you?" Shadow asked skeptically. "Adventure, treasure… Oh, and my fee." Rouge said smugly. "Fine, you're in." Shadow growled, "But get your own transport.". "Of course. Meet you at the safe house." And with one last wave, she left. It was only after she left that Shadow realized he didn't know where this safe house was. "SHIT!".

AN: Rouge: 2. Shadow: 0. XD

Not a bad chappie if you ask me.


	6. A Walk in the Mine fields

**Chapter 6**

**A Walk in the minefields**

Shadow would have never found the safe house if Rouge didn't leave a map. In fact Shadow still couldn't find the safe house **with** the map.

Shadow looked from the piece of paper in his hand back to the open field in front of him that seemed to stretch off for miles till it hit a small town in the distance.

Shadow let out a frustrated growl, the worst part is that Silver and Blaze wanted him to ask for directions.

And right on cue Silver's mouth opened yet again, Shadow turned around fire in his eyes

and looked at Silver.

"I think we should go and ask the people in the town if they know where it is."

That did it, Shadow was sick of babysitting, "You want to go ask them?"

Silver nodded, "It's worth a shot right."

Shadow gave a smirk showing his fangs, "Then you go and ask them…" he began in a whisper, "IF THEY KNOW WHERE A SECRET SAFE HOUSE IS!".

Before Silver could blink he was sent soaring over the field, heading for a painful landing.

Back on the hill Blaze was giving Shadow disapproving looks while he stood there enjoying the sight of his problems fly away from him.

"Shadow you know…", Blaze was cut off by a huge explosion.

The two turned to see dust flying up where Silver was headed to crash land, they shared a look and rushed off into what they now knew was a minefield. This became more obvious the closer they got to the field, mines were planted around the field some showing through the grass that covered it from your view if you looked at it from the hill.

Blaze was running towards where Silver was supposed to be, when another explosion went off this time to her side. She stopped and looked in horror at where the explosion occurred. And then she felt a heavy pressure on her shoulders, at first she thought it was the weight of losing the only two people who didn't abandon her then it started shaking her.

Blaze turned around slowly, as if she were in a dream, to see Silver standing there talking to her. Blaze smiled in her daze, thinking that this was just her imagination. She was still wondering what to say to "ghost Silver", when the noise from the explosion finally drained from her ears.

"Blaze, are you okay? Where's Shadow!", Silver was shaking Blaze too hard right now hoping she would just speak.

The color drained from Blaze's face as reality set in. "Silver how are you alive?".

Silver breathed a sigh of relief, "Never mind that where is Shadow!"

Blaze opened her mouth to answer when the sound of guns firing, more explosions going off, and the ever pleasant sound of tanks that want to ride you over.

"But we didn't do anything!" Silver shouted to the approaching masses.

"Silver I don't think they care." Blaze gave a Silver a small nod in the direction the of the tanks.

There were five tanks in all and maybe about fifty foot soldiers. Blaze moved in the direction while Silver went for the soldiers.

Blaze used her fire powers to set off all the mines between her and the tanks, then when she got close to the tanks she lit the field around them to obscure their vision.

Then she jumped on one of them and burned a hole in it, right over the fuel tank.

After the protective metal melted away, she jumped off of it and threw a fireball at the hole. The end result was a big explosion. And one hell of a metal fireworks show.

The hardest part for Silver was dodging all the bullets while focussing all his energy on keeping himself off the ground a safe distance away from the ground. In case one stray bullet hit a mine below him.

Eventually when he reached the hill where the soldiers were, Silver could finally drop down. Figuring if the soldiers were the ones who planted the bombs, they wouldn't be standing on their own bombs.

Silver ran towards the soldiers using his powers to stop most of the bullets, although some got through and hit him, and using the rest of his powers to attack the soldiers.

Since he didn't know how to fight without them. Silver probably would have been dead if Shadow didn't emerge from the smoke and helped him out.

"Shadow! You're alive."

"Focus on the guys with guns, and who taught you to fight you are probably the worst fighter I have ever met."

"Shadow, that's mean".

"Focus runt"

* 15 min later *

"Shadow!" Blaze ran up to them covered in soot, dust and smelling of hot metal.

"Why is everyone surprised?" Shadow looked more than a little smug, "I am the ultimate life form.".

"You are?", Silver was confused, "I thought you said you couldn't remember anything?"

"It's just that obvious." Shadow gave his signature smirk before he stopped in his tracks and looked off to the side, "Interesting"

Shadow walked back onto the minefield, while Blaze and Silver stared in shock at him.

"S-Shadow what are you doing?" Silver called after him.

Shadow just kept walking. Silver and Blaze stared at him until he disappeared into the smoke cloud that was still left after the battle.

They both started after him, gaining speed when they couldn't see his shadow. Until they both ran into a steel door.

"Owww..." they both said in unison.

They looked up to find a steel door looming over them.

Silver got up and offered his hand to Blaze to help her up. After they both dusted themselves off, Blaze opened the door… the door to the safe house.

"Welcome, you guys took your sweet time."

AN: Ok Still writing exams so try and be patient until then. Unless you review, then I promise to write more. By the way I kinda got bored with the fight scene so sorry if it's only half done.


	7. Double Agent

**Chapter 7; Double Agent  
**

Silver and Blaze stopped in their tracks, Rouge was standing over Shadow with a tranquiliser gun in her hand. The rest of the "Safe house" looked like it had barely survived a hurricane, everything was trashed and almost everything thing that could break was broken. A pipe was broken in the bathroom causing the entire floor to be wet and slippery. Half the furniture was overturned and had several tranquiliser darts sticking out of them. There were dents in the counters and on the floor where heavy objects had obviously fallen.

"I think you guys should make yourselves comfortable" Rouge said sweetly as she aimed the gun at them, then pulled the trigger.

Luckily Silver had enough survival instinct to put up a force field to stop the darts. Unfortunately when Blaze pulled Silver backwards towards the door he lost his concentration and the force field disappeared.

Rouge noticed this and took the opportunity to shoot two more darts at them.

This time Silver didn't react in time and the force field didn't stop the two tranquiliser darts.

"T-traitor". Blaze muttered before she and Silver lost consciousness and fell to the ground.

* Some time later *

The truck bumped and skidded along the path that couldn't even be classified as a road, as Rouge looked back at the three seemingly asleep people in the back who bounced around lifelessly. She wondered what GUN wanted them for, but judging by the fact she found them because of a GUN credit card it could just be to make them work off the money they took. But then again GUN's funding was way too large to be disturbed by a motorbike and some groceries.

Rouge groaned in irritation gaining an annoyed look form the driver. Rouge didn't really care about that though: she wanted answers, and if no one was going to give them to her she was just going to have to find them herself.

* Much later *

Shadow's eyes opened slowly he could hear shouting but he couldn't figure out what they were saying, he tried to move but he couldn't find his strength or feel anything. It was as if he were totally numb. He heard movement and what sounded like a gun being fired, but no matter how hard he tried he still couldn't move. He tried concentrating on his hearing and heard three peoples' deep breathing as if they were asleep. The fourth person he heard before either didn't breathe (a creepy thought that made Shadow extremely uncomfortable) or he or she had left, which also didn't make him feel comfortable. Whatever he had heard – it had definitely been an argument, Shadow wondered for a minute about the gunshot he heard earlier. Shadow could see Silver and Blaze out of the corner of his eye and knew that they were both asleep and that they didn't get shot. This left two options;

One, that the fourth person he heard was the one who got shot.

Or two; that the third person was the one who got shot and he/she was either asleep due to blood loss or that he/she got hit with a tranquiliser gun.

Shadow started to feel tingly as he started regaining feeling. However he could also feel that someone with pointy hair was drooling on him, Silver, Shadow let out a growl of frustration.

Silver stirred, apparently the tranq dart was wearing off of him too, unfortunately Silver also moaned a lot making it hard for Shadow to concentrate.

"Silver shut up", Blaze whispered, lifting herself off of the floor to lean on the side of the truck.

Shadow frowned, they weren't moving. Why weren't they moving? Were they there already? And if they were why was there no noise outside of the truck. And why was there a gunshot in the first place?

Shadow got up ignoring the 'pins and needles' and the protesting of his muscles against the drug in the dart. There was no easy way out of the truck from the sound the floor made when he got up it was metal, heavily armoured. There was no windows and therefore no weak point. Shadow's gun had been taken, which pissed him off, and even if it hadn't there was always the chance the bullet would ricochet and hit one of them and…

Shadow stared at the door of the truck which was…open?

That can't be right, can it? Hell no! Someone was mocking him, someone was playing with Shadow. He just didn't know who, yet.

Shadow walked to the door and got out. It was dark and overcast, the reason he didn't notice the door right away, and there were no buildings that he could see. The tires of the truck were flat and shredded. The driver had at least 5 tranquiliser darts sticking out of him and the keys to the truck were gone as well as the gun the driver used to carry.

Rouge was gone, if she ever was there in the first place, and there was no clue as to who the fourth person was.

"Too damn clean", Shadow growled, he didn't like that everything was clean. Hell he could probably dust for fingerprints and find nothing.

"We should find a place to stay Shadow.", Blaze said as she too got out the truck hauling Silver with her, "And get something to eat".

"Yeah well there's one problem with that, none of us have any money." Shadow looked at the ground no footprints from whoever opened the door, he looked both ways before deciding that if the person wanted to keep going forward they would have stayed in the car.

"Let's head that way." Shadow pointed in the opposite way the truck was going.

- One Sunrise later -

"Shadow, Shadow look!" Silver yelled, jumping up and down like an idiot.

The brat was pointing at a town as if it were a miracle, next thing you know he'll be amazed the sky was blue or exited over toilette paper.

An abandoned town…great. That just screamed inviting. Like a volcano about to erupt, or a bar drink made with poison.

AN: Soooooooooooooo sorry that I haven't updated, I actually wrote this a long time ago…again sorry.

Forgive Me


	8. Ghost Town

**Chapter 8; Ghost Town**

AN: Shout out to my sis in college. I have a test tomorrow, but decided against studying to give you this chapter. If anyone still reads this…

Also I no longer have a spell and grammar checker, please excuse any mistakes or message me.

**Shadow's POV**

Whether it was a good idea or not, we needed supplies and there was a chance, although not a good one, that we might find them here. Still an abandoned town isn't a place you should go frolicking about in, of course that didn't cross Silver's mind, or Blaze's, maybe they didn't have brains and the experiment was to see how long they could go without dying of stupidity.

I shook my head to get rid of the image of the lab and coats taking out their brains while the lay on the slab in the centre of the room.

The town lay under a layer of dust, something out of a western movie including a saloon with swinging doors and a few broken carts on the unused road going through the centre of town. While I was surveying the town, I lost the brats, must've run inside carelessly. The dust was disturbed by the saloon and a couple other houses, including the jail. The giggles coming out of the saloon told me they were in their, but who disturbed the dust round the other houses?

Cursing darkly under my breath I went into the saloon ready to give them hell.

The idiots were pretending that they lived in old western times! Playing dress-up and waltzing around like this was a game.

"WHAT THE HELL" I saw red and they were covered in their own blood for a while.

Silver's face was childlike in its 'scared-shitless-ness', but Blaze met my eyes without hesitation.

"We wanted to get out of the heat and have a little fun." She stated as if it was the simplest thing on earth.

"And the other houses?" I was annoyed sure, but the footprints in front of the other houses worried me more than idiot fun. Besides I had to make sure that Silver and Blaze survived all this, its my mess their playing in anyway, and though I'd love to see my enemies blood on my hands or on the barrel of my gun, the thought of scared little Silver stained red both horrified me and encouraged me to take no prisoners against my enemy. Whoever my enemy is that is.

"We went into the jail" Silver squeaked, then flinched as if I was going to hit him for speaking.

"Why?" I let irritation drip into the word.

"To get ammo" Blaze explained.

Blaze was the one that irritated me the most these days, we constantly bump heads, but sometimes sense actually leaked through her thick skull. Still she IS more practical then Silver…

"Get supplies then we leave" I barked and took a lookout position outside the saloon.

"Awww but Shadow…." Silver protested from inside.

"Just do it kid." I am eternally grateful I went outside before I had to see those huge eyes that he always got when he wanted something, still even 'the eyes' couldn't keep me here after all we weren't alone.

Movement caught my eye, and I looked at the window almost directly opposite the saloon.

"Fresh footprints" I muttered.

A scream came from inside, followed by:

"Blaze!" Silver

I turned to rush in and kick some ass, when a gun went off and a bullet tore through me.

AN: Yes I know its short, but its something.


	9. Sunset of Life

**Chapter 9: Sunset of Life**

AN:** 'Darkness-is-my-heart1' **trust me Amy is definitely coming, it's only a matter of time. And thanks for the review. ^.^

Lolz my heading is so melodramatic.

Third Person POV

*thump* the black hedgehog fell forward and a pool of blood started forming around him. He started to get up but another bullet flew through him. Screams were coming from inside the saloon, but the black hedgehog lay headfirst in his blood unmoving.

And the world blurred to darkness.

Shadow's POV

In that instance there was an angel close; I know that sounds corny but that's how it felt, and I felt ashamed. Me, ashamed? For what? I have no reason to be ashamed… that I know of at least.

In the heavy darkness she was crying over me. I was dead. Something about the sound of her crying felt familiar and made my chest more painful than any number of bullets could. I knew her, but I have no clue who she is. Was? Is she alive? Is this a memory or just a dream? Is this happening now?

Why is there screaming in the background?

'I need to get away', I couldn't take the sobbing. I fought against the darkness and went towards my red-stained reality.

Footsteps passed me and headed into the saloon. The holes in my chest were painful but had already started to heal. I slowly raised my head and coughed blood out my lungs. Did I HAVE to fall face first!

My vision was red, obviously I had gotten blood in my eyes. But aside from the colour change, I could see fine. Heaving myself off the floor made more blood pour from my chest.

"Silver…. Blaze… I'm coming..." the blood in my mouth made my tongue thick and the words were barely audible.

By then the screaming had stopped. I went inside.

A ghost was arguing with an echidna, Blaze lay on the floor close by, a gunshot in her leg and her stomach. Silver's gloved hand stuck out from behind the bar.

The red in my vision was because of my rage this time, and I raised my gun to shoot the echidna in the head and send him straight to hell. But just as the bullet was about to make him brain dead, a force field went up around him, from the ghost (another echidna) who seemed to be talking though I couldn't hear the words over the roar of my blood and the pain in my chest. I kept shouting and the force field fell, but the ghost pulled the echidna through the floor and out of firing range.

Silver turned out to be okay, but Blaze was losing a lot of blood, and I knew that we couldn't stay here. Unfortunately I couldn't haul them both out of there with two gaping holes in my chest.

"Damn it, Silver wake up!" I yelled at the boy behind the bar.

I looked round the place looking for something to help me, but for some reason I kept seeing two images; one image was the abandoned saloon and the other must have been what this place looked like before it became the dump it was today.

The red was fading from my eyes, I went behind the bar and grabbed a bottle of alcohol and some old cleaning rags.

I walked over to Blaze and started to clean out the wounds when I noticed that both of them still had bullets in them.

"Shit!" I had to dig them out, and she screamed a couple of time before resorting to mumbling and wincing in her unconscious state. The process made me wince, but I got them out even though it made the holes larger, and cleaned the wounds out.

After I was done with her I poured alcohol on my own wounds, the sting was long lasting so I assumed that a lot of dust had gotten into the wounds while I lay on the ground, but at least I didn't have to fish out bullets out of them.

Shots rang through the air and I painfully ran to get out of their way. The damn red echidna was back!

Wincing I realised that I had left Blaze in front of the bar and he could have shot her.

I loaded my gun and returned fire, the ghost was nowhere in sight so at least it would be a fair match.

"Knuckles, please stop!" a voice called, "The cost to bring me back is too great. Don't hurt them."

Must be the ghost, but whoever 'Knuckles' was wasn't listening. But just then he ran out of bullets and I shot him down just before that annoying shield could come up.

The ghost cried out in agony and took Knuckles away; they looked similar must've been siblings or something.

Either way if she came back for revenge I wouldn't be here. I picked up Blaze and Silver, wincing as it tugged at my wounds and got the hell out of there, taking some alcohol to clean Blaze's new wounds. And if there was any left over for me to drink it wouldn't hurt.

AN; Exams start in 4 days. That was the arrival and departure of Knuckles and Tikal.


End file.
